By the time everyone made it to the Butler Island it was about 11:30 a.m. and the tide was going out. Many of the area oyster bars were just beginning to expose themselves.

Yep - This is the right place....

Kayaks had to be trudged through the mud during low tide to high ground because by the time high tide rolled around again during the night, that mud trail would be completely submerged under water.

View from the campsite. Looks like a great place to cast a line. No time for that now, though. It'll have to wait until other chores are done.

Marie & Delores, along with the 7 guys that were camping as well, spent the next hour unloading gear and setting up camp.

By 12:30, everyone had their tents set up and were taking a break.

Island exploration revealed this unusual site. What's left of a dead palm tree, its base all hollowed out now and full of water from the rising and falling tides. There were many of these scattered along the shoreline of the island.

Delores and Marie can't sit still for too long so after exploring some of the island shoreline, they jumped back in their kayaks and paddled to a nearby oyster bar to try their luck at catching a few fish

Just using Gulp bail on jig-heads lured a few small trout but that was about it. It is a place to put on the "let's do it again" list, maybe during a better tide phase, though.

They paddled back just in time. Dinner was being served: salad, fried redfish and grits. Delicious!!

Afterwards it was stories around a bonfire and then time to call it a night as Mother Nature slowly turned the lights out.

Thursday, October 2nd brought the most beautiful sunrise ever seen. Everyone seemed to want a picture of it. It was close to high tide, oyster bars covered over, and if it wasn't time to paddle back to Shired Island, Delores and Marie would have done some early morning fishing.

Sunrise came and the group admired it over a cup of instant coffee but it soon became apparent that the time to break down tents and pack kayaks had arrived too quickly. By 9:30 a.m. everyone was packed and launching for the paddle back to Shired Island which took about an hour and a half. There was no time to dilly-dally around, though, The Hidden Coast Paddle Festival was going to filled with one adventure after another and it was time to get going!